Tucci, Gabriella
Tucci, Gabriella
Tucci, Gabriella, Italian soprano; b. Rome, Aug. 4, 1929. She studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and then with Leonardo Filoni, who became her husband. In 1951 she made her operatic debut in Lucca. After winning the Spoleto competition that year, she sang Leonora in La forza del destinoat the Spoleto Festival. In 1953 she appeared as Cherubim’s Médée in Florence. She made a tour of Australia in 1955. In 1959 she made her first appearance at Milan’s La Scala as Mimi. On Sept. 25, 1959, she made her U.S. debut as Giordano’s Madeleine at the San Francisco Opera. From 1959 to 1969 she sang regularly at the Verona Arena. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Cio-Cio-San on Oct. 29, 1960, and remained on its roster until 1973. Among her most successful roles there were Euridice, Marguerite, both Verdi Leonoras, Aida, Violetta, Alice Ford, and Mimi. She also sang Tosca at her Covent Garden debut in London in 1960. As a guest artist, she sang at the Vienna State Opera, the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She later taught at the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington (1983-86).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire